How might technology develop such that this telecommunications technology is viable?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDk_fpJkAqQ&feature=related#

A British Post Office video of what they thought in the sixties phones might be like in the 90s. (Bear in mind the phone service was under the Post Office in those days!) Previously posted in NPC.

Basically they sem to suggest that we'd all be using some sort of combination of videophone and Minitel terminal, with CRT monitors and standard cassette-based nswering machines built in. With coaxial cable to connect them all no less (wot no fibre-optics?)

So how might technology and systems develop to give us all this before the 20th century was out? Frankly I'd suggest that parts of it are almost 1980s, but of course not the video side of things. What time period exactly are we looking at? What other technologies need to be in place? How does the rise of home computers and the internet affect these things, o how do they themselves mitigate such developments?
 
The system looks like something in between an industrial data highway of the mid eighties and the Internet of today. The drawback to wiring up entire cities lies in the limitation of analog cable technology and the sheer volume of hardware.

Even from the late seventies on, old-technology video phones were available, but in the US were used almost exclusively by hospitals to exchange information and opinions over x-rays. It took about 25 talking paths to transmit an analog picture, so the expense was very high.

Even though today's high speed Internet makes two-way teleconferencing possible, the market is not there. People use cell phones to transmit pictures and videos, but not for face to face conversations. One of the comments posted on the YouTube video sums it up:

No matter how many times they push video calls, no-one wants the bastard thing!
 
Well the video does say they would have digital video transmission (described in a rather quaint manner!) I'm not too sure whether they're expecting the 1960s level of telephone usage, or (as seems more obvious from the vid) that "wanting vision" is not always demanded. I suppose the video calls could be made using some form of ADSL high-frequency signal apart from the main low-frequency phone signal?

Are you suggesting that the idea of videophones is always going to be low-demand no matter what? If so, I'd expect these things to be a lot rarer than is expected here- maybe for business use?- but still around.
 
Are you suggesting that the idea of videophones is always going to be low-demand no matter what? If so, I'd expect these things to be a lot rarer than is expected here- maybe for business use?- but still around.

Video conferencing is around in businesses, but more common is the audio teleconference coupled with an on line computer presentation where the host controls the slides, spreadsheets, and composition of the view.

Many people have computers with built in cameras that are rarely used. Video conversations require the user to be positioned at a stationary distance from the camera. Most users would rather talk while walking or traveling.
 
The only time I have seen the video call function being used on a cell phone was this class mate I had who's mother was deaf. The video call allowed her them to communicate with sign language instead of just text messaging each other.
 
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